Entomologist explains why you shouldn't kill spiders in your home

I know it may be hard to convince you, but let me try: Don't kill the next spider you see in your home.

Why? Because spiders are an important part of nature and our indoor ecosystem – as well as being fellow organisms in their own right.

People like to think of their dwellings as safely insulated from the outside world, but many types of spiders can be found inside. Some are accidentally trapped, while others are short-term visitors. Some species even enjoy the great indoors, where they happily live out their lives and make more spiders. These arachnids are usually secretive, and almost all you meet are neither aggressive nor dangerous. And they may be providing services like eating pests – some even eat other spiders.

Although they are generalist predators, apt to eat anything they can catch, spiders regularly capture nuisance pests and even disease-carrying insects – for example, mosquitoes. There's even a species of jumping spider that prefers to eat blood-filled mosquitoes in African homes. So killing a spider doesn't just cost the arachnid its life, it may take an important predator out of your home.

It's natural to fear spiders. They have lots of legs and almost all are venomous—though the majority of species have venom too weak to cause issues in humans, if their fangs can pierce our skin at all. Even entomologists themselves can fall prey to arachnophobia. I know a few spider researchers who overcame their fear by observing and working with these fascinating creatures. If they can do it, so can you!

If you truly can't stand that spider in your house, apartment, garage, or wherever, instead of smashing it, try to capture it and release it outside. It'll find somewhere else to go, and both parties will be happier with the outcome.

But if you can stomach it, it's OK to have spiders in your home. In fact, it's normal. And frankly, even if you don't see them, they'll still be there. So consider a live-and-let-live approach to the next spider you encounter.

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Entomologist explains why you shouldn't kill spiders in your home (2018, May 16)
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I regularly kill the ones I can see but I don't hunt them down. If I can see them there's too many or they're too bold. I have cats, and spiders kill fleas; fleas are vermin. My cats don't go outside but they are allowed to sit in open windows behind screens and that's enough for them to get fleas. Spiders also don't exude noxious chemicals.

Every so often, when I'm on the computer, a spider spins a web down to right in front of the screen. I explain the concept behind computers, internet and Phys.org to him (every time cuz I'm not sure if it's the same spider each time).Then I put up a little porn (to show the REAL reason computers and the internet came about).After a while, he works his way back up his silk line and I don't see him (or maybe it's a her) for another week or so...

Personally, I celebrate having spiders wherever I am dwelling. As I absolutely loathe disease raddled pest bugs. Been exposed to filthy vermin way more than I care to recall. Never been harmed by a spider and there have been plenty of opportunities.

As WG said, beginning with Arpanet, it has been porn and games that have flogged the evolution of the technology upward and onward to the fabulous machines and fantastical systems we have today.

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